Kung Pao Chicken

Back to back nights where I was just not concentrating on what I was doing in the kitchen, just going through the motions - tonight, I completely forgot to capture picture proof. Not even of the finished product. This has been built into my cooking routine for nearly 9 months and I just forgot. I want to go ahead and post the recipe because it was really tasty, healthy and recommended.

Taken from Cooking Light's Recipe Makeover magazine, this recipe comes in at 239 calories, 7.9g fat, 30.9g protein, 11.4g carb, 3g fiber, 66mg chol, 1.8mg iron, 60mg calcium per serving.

Grocery List:

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp. ground ginger, divided
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 lb. skinless chicken 1/4 in strips (cut into small pieces if you would like)
• 1/2 cup fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. less-sodium soy sauce (or Tamari)
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 4 cloves garlic, minced

Heat the oil in a wok or large non-stick skillet over medium-heat. Add the broccoli and 2 tsp. ginger to the pan. Saute for about 1 minutes. Add 2 tbsp. of water then cover to let steam for about 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove the broccoli from the pan and keep warm (I put on a plate in the microwave to contain the heat).

Heat the remaining 2 tsp. of oil in the pan. Add the remaining 1 tsp. ginger, crushed red pepper and the chicken strips to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned - if you would like to chop the chicken down a little more to help cook, now would be a good time.

In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, hoisin, sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch and garlic cloves. Add the broth mixture to the pan, cooking to let the mixture thicken. Return the broccoli to the pan, followed by the red bell pepper strips, toss to coat and cover for 3 minutes on low-medium heat to let everything blend.

Serve over your choice of rice or noodles! There was plenty left for Mr. Max seconds and my lunch the following day.